Known engines typically include, among other things, an engine housing defining an interior volume, which houses the moving parts of the engine. A lubricant is typically contained within the interior volume of the housing and serves to lubricate the moving parts of the engine. The engine also commonly includes a lubricant filter mounted on the engine housing and fluidly coupled with the interior volume of the engine housing. The lubricant circulates between the interior volume of the housing and the filter to continuously filter debris from the lubricant.
In certain operating conditions, the lubricant may reach extremely high temperatures, and it may be desirable to cool the lubricant circulating through the engine. This is often achieved by coupling a remote lubricant cooler device or heat exchanger to the engine housing and bypassing the flow of the lubricant such that the lubricant flows through the cooler prior to entering the filter. This commonly involves the installation of an adapter which couples with external inlet and outlet cooler lines to redirect the lubricant to the cooler. The installation of the adapter involves removing the filter and mounting the adapter in its place. The filter is then mounted on the adapter. The inlet and outlet cooler lines are usually in the form of hoses which are coupled to the adapter. When the adapter is mounted on the engine housing and coupled with the cooler, the lubricant flows from the engine housing to the adapter, then to the cooler. From the cooler, the lubricant flows back to the adapter, then to the filter and back to the engine housing. Of course, the lubricant flow could be reversed such that the lubricant is filtered prior to being cooled. Unfortunately, the installation of the adapter and external cooling lines adds cost, weight and manufacturing time to the production of the vehicle. For instance, the cooling lines are installed and routed after the engine is mounted in the vehicle, thus, adding cost and manufacturing time. In addition, the cooling lines may need to be replaced due to wear, therefore, reducing the longevity of the vehicle and creating added maintenance expense. Furthermore, in some cases it may be desirable to install and remove the cooler as the operating conditions change. However, the installation of the cooler may be too cumbersome and impractical for such temporary applications.
An engine housing has been developed that includes built-in bypass channels for coupling with a remote cooler without the use of an adapter. In this case, when lubricant cooling is desired, a steel ball is pressed into the passage leading to the filter to thereby block the flow of lubricant to the filter and re-direct the flow of lubricant to the bypass channels. However, it may be difficult to press and seal the ball in the passage and, once the ball is pressed in the passage, it may be difficult to remove and convert the engine to bypass the cooler when lubricant cooling is not needed.